Pocket-knife



(No Model.)

H. G. JOHNSON.

POCKET KNIFE.

Patented Oct. 26,1897.

Edin? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HANS G. JOHNSON, OF WAUKON, IOVA.

PocKET-kNlFE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 592,612, dated October26, 189'?.

Application filed October 16, 1896.

To @ZZ whomit may concern.-

Be it known that I, I-IANs G. JOHNSON, a resident of Waukon, in thecounty of Allamakee and State of Iowa, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Pocket- Knives; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in pocket-knives, the object ofthe invention being to provide simple and efficient means for openingthe blades of such a knife.

With this object in view the invention consists in certain novelfeatures of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, ashereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a sectional view of apocketeknife embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is asimilar View showing theblade closed.

A represents one of the side faces of a pocket-knife, and B a short backportion which connects the side faces, the shanks co of the blades Cbeing pivotally connected between the ends of the sides A. With aknifeframe such as above described it will be seen that between thesides Aand the short back portion B elongated spaces or slots will beleft, and in these spaces or slots small le vers D are pivotallysupported between their ends. One end of each lever D is made with athumb-piece b, and the other end is made with a tooth or hook c to entera notch d or e in the shank of the knife-blade. In the drawings I haveshown one blade open, with the tooth in engagement with the notch d andthe shoulder f formed by said notch bearing against the end of thelever, which thus forms an abutment for the knife-blade when the same isopen. The other blade of the knife is shown closed in Fig. 2, with thetooth of the other lever D in the notch e of that blade. Thus it will beseen that the lever will serve to maintain the blade locked in eitherits closed or open position. A spring g, one for each blade, is securedto the back portion 8. Each spring g is made with two Serial No.609,124. (No model.)

members 1 2, the member l to bear against the lever D, so as to keep thetooth c in one or the other of the notches in the shank of the blade,and the member 2 of the spring being made to bear against the blade.Assuming now that the blade is closed within the case or handle of theknife, it will be readily seen that when the lever D is depressed, so asto move the tooth out of the notch in the shank of the blade, the bladewill be automatically forced outwardly by the action of the member 2 ofthe spring and will become automatically locked in its open position bythe engagement of the tooth of the lever D with the other notch in theshank of the blade.

It is evident that any desired number of blades may be employed (usingone set of devices for each blade) and that various devices-such asbutton-hooks, saws, nail-trimmers, corkscrews, or .other devices-may besubstituted for the blades or used in addition thereto.

My improvements are simple in construction, cheap to manufacture,convenient, useful, and effectual in all respects in the performance oftheir functions.

Various slight changes might be made in the details of construction ofmy invention without departing from the spirit thereof or limiting itsscope, and hence I do not wish to limit myself to the precise detailsherein set forth.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination with a knife-handle, and blade having a notch therein,of a lever having a projection adapted to enter the notch and lock theblade, and spring bearing in the direction of the blade and lever andadapted to throw the blade open when an end of the lever is pressedinward.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

HANS G. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

C. S. STILWELL, CALVIN STILWELL.

